Jean Michel Jarre

Oxygène

First released1976

Oxygène was recorded by Jean Michel Jarre between 1976 and 1977 at his home studio in France, utilizing the Eminent 2000 synthesizer as the primary instrument alongside other analog synthesizers and equipment. The album was self-produced by Jarre, who handled the composition and arrangement of all six parts. Recorded during the height of electronic music's emergence in the late 1970s, the album represented a significant moment in synthesizer-based music, featuring lush, layered synthesizer textures created through multi-track recording techniques. The production emphasized melodic and atmospheric qualities over the more experimental approaches of contemporaneous electronic music, making it accessible to mainstream audiences. Oxygène became one of the best-selling instrumental albums of its era, released by Disques Dreyfus in 1977, and established Jarre as a major figure in electronic music production.